The four common foundations

June 2001

So we sit in the correct meditation posture and try to relax our minds. Leave behind any worldly concerns. Before we start the practice we spend some time reflecting on the four foundational thoughts.

The first thought is the precious human rebirth . We may have heard a lot about the preciousness of this human life. We can only practise the profound Dharma when we feel deeply how fortunate it is to obtain this precious human life. For many reasons it is extremely difficult to obtain this human rebirth. It is very important to always remind oneself, not just take it for granted; not use this precious life just for suffering and unhappiness. It is just like when we take a very precious diamond container and use it for a rubbish bin; this is very unwise. This can happen also when we don't realise the preciousness of this human life. Our human life is like a diamond container which has so many special qualities contained within it. Our negative thoughts, speech and actions are like the rubbish that we put into the diamond container. Therefore we really don't know how to properly utilise this precious diamond container that holds all the precious things.

This is an extremely important foundation to Buddhist practice, to really feel the preciousness of this human life. This is the first step. We don't just make up that this life is precious; we aren't making it up to make ourselves feel good. What we have obtained is truly precious. Buddha himself discovered the preciousness of this human life, and based on this finding he started the practice of this profound Dharma.

When we realise the preciousness, we have so much joy, we realise how fortunate we are. This precious body is like a great boat, crossing the samsaric ocean. It isn't only for oneself, we can take with us all other mother sentient beings.

The reality is that one's body and Buddha's body are not different. The difference is how we use it. If we don't do anything positive or virtuous in this life, if we waste the opportunity, once we lose the opportunity, it is extremely difficult to obtain in our future lives. Like even a simple good job, we try hard to keep it. Once we lose the good job it is very difficult to find another position of similar quality in the future. However, no matter how good a job we obtain, it can't lead us to enlightenment. But with this precious life, if we utilise it in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha, we and all other beings can gain enlightenment.

We now spend a few minutes reflecting on the preciousness of this human life. [pause]

Even if we realise the preciousness of this human life, we always distract our minds. We always think that there is plenty of time to practise the Dharma. So now we reflect upon the second foundation, that life is impermanent . There is no need to teach examples about impermanence, as it is in front of us all the time. If we think of the deaths of friends and family, we think about all those young and old people who lose their lives every day in car accidents. They never knew that they were going to die, and now they no longer exist in that form. So this is the true teaching of the Buddha, that death is uncertain. No one knows how or when we are going to die. Once we lose this opportunity, it is very difficult to obtain again the precious human life. Every second it is important to maintain the positive mind, positive speech and positive actions. Our life is like an autumn cloud, or like watching a movie or watching lightning. It doesn't last forever. No matter what we think is important in this life, we can't take anything with us that we have achieved in this life other than what we have accumulated with the Dharma.

Dharma is the supreme guide, eliminating all the ignorance or darkness and confusion. Dharma is not just of benefit for the next lifetimes, but it is also of great benefit in this life. It can purify all our unhappiness, stress and worry, because all of our unhappiness is caused by our negative emotions and discursive thoughts.

The levels of happiness and unhappiness are entirely dependent on their own causes and conditions. Most of the time, we are engaging more in the negative than the positive. However, our expectations and hopes are always with happiness and peace. However, the reality is a great contradiction. If we really tried to find happiness and peace then it is our own responsibility to engage our mind, body and speech in the positive all the time.

Therefore, the main antidote to thinking "I have plenty of time to practise the Dharma", which can be a major obstacle for us, is impermanence. We never know when we are going to die.

We will now spend a few minutes reflecting on impermanence. [pause]

The third foundation is the law of nature which is karma . Karma is not just for Buddhists - all sentient beings as long as they have a mind, body, and speech, every being created their own karma. Buddha didn't just make up the law for only Buddhists: karma is the law of nature that Buddha discovered through his wisdom, through his practice. No one created this law of nature, it just naturally exists in this relative world. For this reason we don't just call Buddhism a religion, it is more like a mind science. Buddha experimented and discovered this law of nature. So Buddha discovered that the only cause of happiness and peace is good thought, good speech and good actions. Whether you are Buddhist or non-Buddhist, the good action only produces the good result, and the bad action only produces the bad result. With this understanding it helps us to realise that whenever we think, speak and act, this will always bring a result. So we have to take responsibility to keep our mind, body and speech in the positive in order to attain peace and happiness.

So again we will spend a few minutes reflecting on the law of karma, of cause and effect. [pause]

The fourth foundation is that the nature of samsara is suffering . Even if we accumulate the positive deeds, there is no point to only aim for this life or next life. No matter where we are born in this cycle of existence, in any of the six realms, there will always be ongoing suffering, it simply doesn't end, in lifetime after lifetime. That is samsara.

We have to ask ourselves, of what we have obtained in this lifetime, are there any lasting results? Is the real meaning of the precious life just having a good family, a good job, and nice possessions? This is not the case. These are just short-term, how we live. Only with the Dharma can we achieve lasting results that we can take to our future life.

So the four foundations teach us:

  • that this human life is so precious, and we must appreciate how fortunate we are to possess it,
  • that this life is impermanent, and we should not waste any precious time,
  • that all happiness and all suffering is the result of the law of karma, and
  • that this world is not worth clinging to because it is full of suffering.

By living with these four thoughts our lives have meaning. If we reflect on them every day they can help us to become strong Buddhist practitioners; they help to remove doubts and confusion and make it truly worthwhile to obtain this precious human life.

So we will just reflect on the four foundations for a short while.